Color of the Paper Sky
by Caius
Summary: Don't ask about the title ^^* Basically, it's about Ludwig, Iggy, Lemmy and Larry (if you don't know who they are...well....too bad) remember something about the Star Rod and go off to investigate.


It started with a simple question.

"Where'd dad go?"

Ludwig looked up from his work. Lemmy was standing in the doorway, staring at him. The younger blinked, and then walked into the room as if expecting an answer, one that Ludwig did not have.

"How should I know?" Ludwig snapped, trying to imply 'leave me alone' in his words. A smirk appeared on Lemmy's lips that displayed he had no intention of leaving until his question was answered.

The older, blue-haired Koopaling massaged his temples, trying to coax out a memory that would allow him to continue his work. Lemmy tiptoed around the lab, poking random inventions and leaving them a bit disheveled. After a few minutes, a distant, faded recollection came into view.

"Ah!" Ludwig exclaimed, startling Lemmy so that he dropped a full glass vial and the liquid that was contained therein began to eat through the stone floor. "Dad said he was going to…uproot Peach's castle or something…near Toad Town. Um…back as soon as Mario is beaten… And... Don't come to his new castle in the sky."

Lemmy edged away from the mess on the floor and grinned at Ludwig. " 'Don't come,' huh? Sounds like an invitation to me." 

Ludwig stared at him. "Fine, you want to go, go ahead, but I have work to do." He tuned his brother out and went back to what he was doing. Tuned Lemmy out, that is, until a green ball with a yellow star of it hit him. The older looked up and glared daggers, but Lemmy was already out the room, racing down the hall with his mocking laughter trailing behind.

"Lemmy!" Ludwig roared, running after him, nearly running over a watch guard Goomba.

Ludwig and Lemmy ran around the huge castle for a while, until Ludwig made a final, breathless, last-effort lunge at Lemmy that sent both of them sliding down the hall on the smooth stones. They continued like this for a few feet and even crashed into Iggy.

"Argh! What are you two doing?! Watch where you're going!" Iggy shouted at them, picking himself up from the pile formed from the other two. His anger turned to amusement as he watched Ludwig and Lemmy grapple with each other.

After about ten minutes of their fight, Ludwig and Lemmy broke apart for a rest. "And may I ask why you knocked me over?" Iggy questioned, a wide grin on his face from watching the quarrel.

Ludwig glared at Lemmy. "_He _wanted to know where dad is-"

"Yeah, where is dad anyway?" Iggy broke in.

"Shut up! I was getting to that. A while ago he went to steal something-"

Iggy interrupted again, the memory coming to him. "Oh yeahyeahyeah! The…uh… 'Star Stick,' right?" Ludwig whacked him in the head.

"Idiot. Star _Rod._"

"Hey! Who _cares?!_"

"You might want to get the facts straight!"

Lemmy shakily stood up and watched the new brawl, this time between Ludwig and Iggy. Larry come up behind Iggy and watched too. He tapped Lemmy's shoulder.

"What's with him today?" Larry asked, nodding toward Ludwig who was currently rolling around the hallway with Iggy, each trying to get the advantage. Lemmy shrugged. Larry leaned forward and poked Ludwig.

The other turned, looked up at Larry, and stood up. He put his foot on Iggy's face to keep him still. "Can I help you?" he asked as if he wasn't just trying to bash his other brother.

"Uh, yeah. What's going on? I saw some weird guys around earlier."

"Hmm…they must be the new help, the ones going to guard whatever dad's stolen this time, besides the Star Rod," Ludwig replied. "That's all you want to know?"

Larry blinked. "Star Rod? Isn't…isn't that the thing that grants wishes?"

With a suspicious look on his face, Ludwig moved closer to Larry, taking his foot from Iggy's face. Iggy didn't lunge after him though; he stepped to stand next to Ludwig, as did Lemmy.

"Now…what's this about wishes? You mean like the Star Road?" Ludwig interrogated, crossing him arms. "Shooting stars?"

Nodding, Larry responded. "Didn't you pay any attention to what dad said? He goes off with this plan of stealing the Star Rod that grants _all _wishes, steals it, and is practically a god of the Mushroom Kingdom and you don't know about it?"

None of the other three said anything.

About five seconds later, there was a mad dash in the halls of the castle, all four of them trying to get to the hanger. Therein Clown 'Copters were contained, five, as some were now in Bowser's airborne castle. Each of the four jumped in and flew toward Bowser's castle in the sky.

Even in the air it was a race. Each of the four Koopalings tried to get ahead of the others, occasionally getting knocked from above the clouds, and then they found themselves and their 'Copter bearing, reeling down upon the populous of the Mushroom Kingdom.

After twenty minutes of flying at breakneck speeds, the smoke of the volcano of Lavalava Island -

**---Kzzt…---**

"Just who thought up these names anyway?" Iggy moaned, whilst sitting in a Clown 'Copter suspended from the ceiling, hanging by invisible wires.

"Quiet you, I'm trying to write!" yelling someone who was sitting at a computer console in the next room.

Lemmy jumped down from his 'Copter. "Hey!" he shouted, "I thought you were gonna draw us and make a fancomic out of your fanfic." He gestured to an abandoned hardcover sketchbook and a pencil.

Larry joined in as well. "You said you were just going to get McDonald's!!"

"…Well, I got my food, then I decided to write something," the girl said, leaving the computer and coming into the room. She stood in front of Larry, and she was about two and a half feet taller than him, if not more so.

"Uh…can I at least have some of your fries?" Larry asked, indicating the room with the computer in it with a clawed finger. The girl nodded and Larry walked off toward the computer room. 

With a yelp, the only Koopaling remaining in the 'Copters fell out of his. Ludwig stood up with a wobble, and then walked steadily over.

"You know, Akana –" Ludwig began.

"-That's not my real name. It's my alias…-" the girl, 'Akana', said.

"-Yet everyone calls you that because they don't know your name. Yeah, I know. Anyway, I want to comment that in the time it took you to write this pointless blurb, you could've finished the chapter." Ludwig waited for her response.

Akana nodded. "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to have a little fun. I should get back to writing."

"Yeah. You should."

**---Kzzt…---**

After twenty minutes of flying at breakneck speeds, the smoke of the volcano of Lavalava Island appeared beneath the Koopalings. Soon after, a giant castle, floating in the sky so high up it seemed blanketed in eternal night, appeared before them. It was Bowser's new castle, and on top of it sat Peach's castle. The princess's castle, however small it was in comparison to the one beneath it, gleamed like a sculpture of ivory in the light of the moon. The one thing that really set off the whole picture was a not-pretty clown face just like the ones harbored on the Clown 'Copters the Koopalings now rode.

Before any of his siblings could comment, Ludwig pointed towards Peach's castle. "We should head there!" he called back. Each then stepped up the speed of their 'Copter, and instead of entering through the stone head as was the norm, the four Koopalings set down on the ground right in front of Peach's castle. Their arrival completely terrified a Clubba, who had been napping outside the castle doors.

---

"W-w-who are y-you?" the Clubba stuttered, both scared and confused. These didn't look like any of his comrades, and he hadn't heard anything about new arrivals. He held his club like a weapon, though he really didn't know what to do. Maybe they were the Koopa Bros. He had never seen them, but he knew there were four in their group. They might be the Koopa Bros., but they were definitely Koopas.

The Clubba was about to ask his question again, but the smallest one, sporting a spiky blue Mohawk-esque hairstyle, approached him and put a hand underneath his chin, then forced his head upward. The Koopa looked into the Clubba's eyes, and then used a sharp claw on his fingertip – who were these people! No Koopa from Koopa Village had claws! Only Bowser did. – to follow around the Clubba's white, puffy hair. Just as the Clubba was deciding whether to thrust his mace into this strange Koopa's stomach, he was released and the strange one let out a taunting laugh.

"Some help they've got around here… I hope the others aren't as weak as this one!" he called to his companions. Then, the four walked past him, laughing, toward the castle doors. The last stopped, he had multi-colored hair, grinned toothily – did the Koopas have teeth? – and shoved him. The Clubba almost fell over, but kept his balance.

Gaining courage and insulted, the Clubba yelled, "Hey! Hey! You can't go in there! That's official property of King Bowser and you're not allowed to-"

One of the four whose head was occupied by a blue mass of hair turned and interrupted the little speech. "Oh, yes we are."

---

"What an idiot!" Larry laughed as they burst through the doors of Peach's castle. Then, they stopped, wondering which way to go. All the guards had stopped too. They were staring. No one in the main corridor of the castle was making a sound.

Ludwig, not wanting to play 'pick-the-right-door,' walked up to an armored Koopa Troopa. "Hey, where's-"

"Who're you?" the Troopa asked, accusingly and timidly at the same time, and also not giving Ludwig time to finish. Ludwig was just about to answer, but a shriek rang out from the higher door in the room, and in front of it stood a Magikoopa, but this one was obviously female.

"What are you oafs doing?! Let them in and show them to King Bowser! You, do it now! Chop, chop!" the female Magikoopa shouted.

The armored Troopa Ludwig had been talking to lowered his eyes. "Yes, Kammy," he murmured, and gestured for the Koopalings to follow him. The Magikoopa fell into step besides Ludwig.

"Very sorry, my prince, but we had no idea you were coming. King Bowser gave no indication you would be visited us," Kammy said, using a tone of great respect. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked up through her glasses at Ludwig, who was staring at her.

After a moment of walking, Kammy asked, "What?"

"You called me 'prince.' I've never been called that before." Kammy then noticed the other three were looked at her strangely as well.

Clearing her throat, she began to walk backwards so she could face the four Koopalings. "Well, I assumed with your father being king of the Koopas that you would have the titles of princes and one princess."

Larry blinked. "Yeah…well, whatever. Hey, how come no one knows us around here?" It seemed strange that, even though they were in a different section of the Mushroom Kingdom, no Koopa knew them.

"Err…I'm not quite sure," Kammy replied. "I would have thought King Bowser would have told his minions he has kids, but I only found out because I heard him mumbling before we stole the Star Rod and…oh, we've arrived. You go right through this door and you'll find your father."

Ludwig, Lemmy, Iggy, and Larry all went through the door Kammy showed them to, a great sliding on with a golden star painted one. There, they saw their dad, facing toward them.

Bowser wore an expression of surprise. "What are you four doing here?"

Iggy stepped forward accusingly. "Hey! You never told us about kidnapping Peach last time, and this time you told us not to come! Why not?"

"Yeah! I mean, we haven't had _any fun _since trying to take Dinosaur Land so long ago!" Larry interjected. Ludwig and Lemmy stepped up beside the other two and they all stared down their dad.

Bowser's face slowly turned into one of agitation. "I didn't tell you to come since you and your sister and other brothers never can seem to stop Mario! That, and I found these tough guys that could guard the Star Spirits, so I decided to use them.

"So you're stealing Stars again." Ludwig smirked. "Oh, wait…_no! _That wasn't you last time, no! It was Smithy, and then you ended up joining with Mario. You never did tell any of use about that, did you? I bet–"

"– Silence!!" Bowser shouted, but it was too late; grins and stifled laughter already had spread into his sons. Lemmy, Iggy and Larry each had an 'I-can't-believe-it-hah-hah' mocking smile on their faces.

The three turned to Ludwig. "How'd you find that out?" they asked.

"I came back from Dinosaur Land a bit early – getting my stuff from my old castle, you know – and overheard dad relating the whole thing to a Magikoopa. Heh, the Keep was in a shambles, too!" Ludwig said, ending in a chuckle.

Bowser moved forward and glared down at the four. "Did you want the Keep back or what? And _I _didn't join _Mario, Mario _joined the Koopa Troop, but he deserted us to go watch a parade his brother was leading."

Larry grinned. "And were _you _in the parade, dad?" When no answer came, the four burst out laughing. After a short while of enduring that, Bowser let out a roar and they were all quieted, but not completely silenced.

"So…what's your plan this time?" Iggy ventured, checking to see if Bowser had calmed down. Apparently he had, since he seemed to gain an air of pride at this question.

Bowser grinned. "Well, when I stole the Star Rod, I lifted Peach and her castle up here. Then, Kammy and I imprisoned the seven Star Spirits in these card things. Then we gave them to the seven strongest Koopas we could find. Sure, Mario's defeated five of them, but the Ice King - or whatever is name is - is bound stop him, and–"

A slap was heard; Ludwig had whacked his face with his hand and, after mumbling a low 'ouch', he looked up at his dad as if he were crazy. "You're…you're going with your old plan, aren't you? The divide-and-conquer thing we tried twice…"

Lemmy caught on to what Ludwig was going to say. "…And _you've_ tried it so many other times without us..."

"So, wait, if Mario needs the seven Star Spirits…why not just keep them up here with you?" Ludwig and Lemmy asked together.

Bowser was silent.

"…Because! It's going to work _this _time, I just know it!" Bowser stated very matter-of-factly. "And…well, Mario's gotten stronger, so even though _I'm_ invincible, those _weaklings_ down there couldn't stand much of him."

Iggy blinked. "I thought you said they were strong."

"Err…"

"Hah! I saw this place on our way here. It's gotta be just so easy to conquer," Larry said, putting on a cocky grin and folding his arms.

Bowser clenched his teeth and quickly counted to ten. "Well, if you four think it's _so easy, _why don't you go try to take back the lands I lost?" he growled, narrowing his eyes. The four Koopalings laughed.

"Come _on. _Did you see that flower place? Taking over a land full of a bunch of reject weeds." Such banter as this continued for a few minutes, and Bowser waited for the four to quiet down. After ten minutes, he stamped his foot.

"There are parachutes in the main hangar. And," he added, "_No, _you cannot use the 'Copters again. Those stay here."

Iggy grinned. "Okay, we _can't. _But _may we _use the–"

"Get out of here!!" Bowser roared.

Moments later, four parachutes opened up around the floating castle, and the Koopalings floated down to the earth.

---

Peach leaned over her balcony railing, peering at the near invisible parachutes drifting down toward her kingdom.

"Now what… Oh, Mario, be careful."


End file.
